CVE-2026-44486
HIGHCVE-2026-44486 is a high-severity (CVSS 7.5) Information Exposure vulnerability in axios. O3 Security confirms whether CVE-2026-44486 is actually reachable in your code before you act, and blocks exploitation at runtime until you patch.
Axios: Proxy-Authorization header leaks to redirect target when proxy is re-evaluated to direct connection
Exploitation Status
Proof-of-concept exploit code exists
- CISA’s SSVC triage found public proof-of-concept exploit code for this CVE, though no confirmed active exploitation.
- CISA assesses this as automatable — exploitation doesn’t require manual, per-target effort, which raises the odds of mass scanning and opportunistic attacks.
Exploitation and automatability from CISA’s SSVC triage for CVE-2026-44486.
EPSS Exploitation Probability
EPSS (Exploit Prediction Scoring System) is a daily probability model maintained by FIRST.org. It estimates the likelihood a CVE will be exploited in production environments within the next 30 days, derived from real-world threat intelligence signals.
How urgent is this, really
CVE-2026-44486 plotted by exploitation likelihood (EPSS) against impact (CVSS). The shaded corner — EPSS 50%+ and CVSS 7.0+ — is where this CVE doesn't sit, though severity or exploitability alone can still warrant action.
Where this sits among everything scored
Of 0 CVEs with a current EPSS score, this one falls in the < 10% band (highlighted). Real counts from FIRST.org, not a sample — log-scaled since the landscape is heavily right-skewed.
Real-World Exposure
How broadly this vulnerability is actually deployed: weekly install volume shows current usage, and reverse-dependency count shows how many other packages break if it stays unpatched.
axiosnpmDescription
Axios is a promise based HTTP client for the browser and Node.js. Prior to 0.32.0 and 1.16.0, Axios’ Node.js HTTP adapter can leak proxy credentials to a redirect target in affected versions. When a request is sent through an authenticated proxy, Axios may add a Proxy-Authorization header. If Axios then follows a redirect and the redirected request is no longer sent through that proxy, the stale Proxy-Authorization header can remain on the redirected request and be sent to the redirect target. This affects Node.js's use of Axios with automatic redirects enabled and an authenticated proxy configuration. Browser adapters are not affected. This vulnerability is fixed in 0.32.0 and 1.16.0.
Affected Packages
| Ecosystem | Package | Vulnerable range | Fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| 📦npm | axios | ≥ 1.0.0&&< 1.16.0 | 1.16.0 |
| 📦npm | axios | all versions | 0.32.0 |
Detection & mitigation playbook
Open-source dependencyDetect
Scan your dependency tree (package-lock.json, pnpm-lock.yaml, requirements.txt, go.sum, etc.) for axios. O3's reachability analysis confirms whether the vulnerable code path is actually invoked in your application, so you act on real exposure instead of every transitive match.
Fix
Update axios to 1.16.0 or later, then make sure no transitive (indirect) dependency still pins the vulnerable range — O3 confirms CVE-2026-44486 is resolved across your whole dependency graph.
Workarounds
If you can't upgrade right away: gate or disable the affected feature, validate untrusted input at the boundary, and avoid passing attacker-controlled data into the vulnerable path. O3's runtime protection blocks exploitation in production as an interim safeguard until the upgrade lands.
How O3 protects you
O3 pinpoints whether CVE-2026-44486 is reachable in your code and exactly where to fix it, then blocks exploitation in production at runtime until the patched version is deployed.
Tailored to CVE-2026-44486. Runtime protection reduces exposure until a permanent patch is applied and verified — it complements patching, it doesn't replace it.
Fixing This On Your OS
If you run this on a Linux distribution, patch through your package manager against the distro's own security advisory below — it tracks the exact backported fix for your release, which can ship on a different timeline (and sometimes a different severity) than the upstream project.
This is an Important information disclosure flaw in the Axios Node.js HTTP adapter. Red Hat products utilizing Axios in a Node.js environment with an authenticated proxy and automatic redirects enabled are susceptible. The vulnerability arises when a request, initially sent through an authenticated proxy, is…
Frequently Asked Questions
Is CVE-2026-44486 in your dependencies?
O3 detects CVE-2026-44486 across npm dependencies and uses function-level reachability to confirm whether the vulnerable code path is actually reachable — not just present. No false positives.